Presser device for sewing machines



11 any It, W6 E. 0. MAYER PRESSER DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Oct. 9. 1955 I .dw. H mm m. Ill].

|||l III I P INVENTOR. Eugene O. Mayer ATTORNEY United States Patent PRESSER DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES Eugene 0. Mayer, South Norwalk, Conn., assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, EEiaabc-th, J., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 9, 1953, Serial No. 335.0%

3 Claims. (Cl. 112-437) This invention relates to presser mechanisms for sewing machines, and more particularly, to a presser mechanism which may readily be selectively set for introduction and removal of work fabrics, for normal stitching operation, or for embroidering and darning operations.

It is an object of this invention to provide a construction whereby the aforesaid settings of the presser mechanism may be accomplished quickly and easily by the machine operator.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a presser mechanism having a position suitable for embroidering, which position may be selectively adjusted to accommodate a wide range of fabric thickness and texture, together with a means for shifting the presser mechanism from a p0sition suitable for normal stitching to the selected embroidering position.

A further object is the provision of a presser mechanism of the above character which is economical to manufacture and which may be incorporated inconspicuously in existing family type sewing machines.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view, as will hereinafter appear, this invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary head end elevational view of a sewing machine having portions of the take-up and faceplate broken away to expose the presser mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of a portion of the sewing head of Fig. 1, with portions of the frame broken away to expose the presser mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary head end elevational view of the sewing head with the face-plate removed and showing the embroidering stop-cam;

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of a portion of the faceplate taken from the unexposed side, as from the left in Fig. 2, and showing the embroidering stop-cam carried thereby; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 55 of Fig. 4.

The sewing machine which is illustrated in the drawings is of the type having a frame including a cloth-plate 11 and a bracket-arm terminating in a hollow sewing head 12 overhanging the cloth-plate. A needle-bar 13 carrying a needle 14 is journaled for endwise reciprocation in the sewing head and is adapted to cooperate in the formation of stitches with lower stitch-forming instrumentalities (not shown) disposed beneath the cloth-plate. Overlying the lower switch-forming instrumentalities is a throat-plate 15 which is carried by the cloth-plate and is slotted in the usual manner to accommodate a feed-dog 16 which is actuated by suitable work-feeding mechanism located beneath the cloth-plate.

In operation, the work fabrics are placed over the throat-plate which supports the work for penetration by the needle. In order to render the feed-dog effective to advance the fabric in the event that normal straightaway 2 stitches are desired, the work must be held against the throat-plate and the feed-dog. For this purpose a presserfoot 17 is provided. The Presser-foot 17 is carried by a presser-bar 18 which is journaled in the sewing head for endwise movement toward and away from the throatplate and is normally biased downwardly by means of a coil spring 19 which bears at one extremity against an abutment member 20 secured to the resser-bar, and at the other extremity against an adjusting screw 21 which is threaded into the sewing head 12.

The abutment member 20 is formed with a rearwardly projecting arm 22 adapted to overlie a lifting lever 23 which is pivoted, as at 24, to the sewing head 12 of the bracket-arm. By turning the lever 23, the presser-foot may be elevated to a raised position suitable for removal or introduction of work fabrics between the presser-foot and the work support. A set screw 25 is used to secure the abutment member 20 to the presser-bar so that the position of the abutment member 20 along the resser-bar may be selectively adjusted, thereby to regulate the raised position of the presser-foot.

The lifting lever 23 is also provided with a pin 26 which is adapted to engage a tension release lever 27 when the presser-foot is raised. The tension release lever is formed in a usual manner with a cam-lug 28 adapted to engage and endwise shift a release pin 29 which is associated with. the needle-thread tension device 3!) of the machine.

Incertain types of sewing, such as embroidering or darning operations,-it becomes desirable to render the feed-dog 16 of the machine ineffective and to free the work between the resser-foot and the work support so that the work fabrics may be shifted by hand. In the present invention, a stop means is provided, rendered effective at the will of the sewing machine operator, for determining a position of the presser-foot intermediate its lower position against the throat-plate and its raised position for removal and introduction of work. This intermediate position of the presser-foot is a position in which the work fabric is reiatively loose between the presserfoot and the throahplate, so that the work is not held against thefeed'dog for advancement thereby, nor is the work clamped to prevent its being shifted by hand whenever the needle is out of the work. In the intermediate position of the pressenfoot, the tension device 30 is not released and the coil spring 19 continues to bias the presser--foot downwardly and, therefore, a degree of control over the work is maintained in that the resser-foot prevents the work fabric from flagging; that is, from being carried upwardly and downwardly with the needle, the occurrence of which, as is well known in the art, results in skipping and malformation of stitches.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the hollow sewing head 12 is adapted to be closed by a face-plate 31 which is fastened in place, as by screws 32-32. The face-plate is apertured to accommodate a screw 33 which is threaded into a stop-cam member 34 and which serves to pivotally support the cam member adjacent the inside surface of the face-plate. The stopcam member M is formed with an inclined camming surface 35 and is provided with an arm 36 which extends outwardly beyond the confines of the hollow sewing head and terminates in an inturned finger-grip portion 37 by which the stop-cam member may be manually shifted about the pivot screw 33. Adjustably secured to the presser-bar by a set screw 38 is a collar 39. The outwardly projecting head of the set screw 38 provides an abutment surface adapted to cooperate with the camming surface 35 of the stop-cam when the cam is turned to the position shown in Fig. 3 to determine the intermediate position of the presser-bar. By means of the set screw 38, the collar 39 and, therefore, the intermediate position of the Presser-bar may be selectively adjusted to accommodate any thickness or texture of work fabrics to be embroidered.

.Theface-plate 31, along its rearward edge, is formed With a'ourve'd indentation 40, while the adjacent portion of the' sewfin'g head 12 is forrned'with a similarly curved indentation .41. Preferably, the indentations 4i and it. are formed, in part, to border the path of movement of the finger 'gr'ip portion 37 of the stop-cam member. By this arrangement, the finger-grip portion may be arranged inconspicuously on the sewing head and disposed for ready acce'ss'ibility to the operator by virtue of the indentations 40 and 41. The finger-grip portion 37, when the stop-cam is in inoperative position as shown in Fig. 1, occupies a protected position within the general outline of the sewing head, thereby to minimize the possibility of being caught up by'the work or shifted inadvertemy by the operator into operative position.

When the stop-cam 34 is turned into the position illustrated in Fig. 1, the camming surface 35 will be shifted A out of engagement with the head of the set screw and, therefore, the Presser-foot will occupy an extreme lowered position suitable for normal straightaway stitching. A spring detent 42 which is secured to the cam member 34, as by screw 43, is disposed to project through an aperture 44 formed in the member 34. When the stop-cam member occupies an inoperative position, as shown in a Fig. 1, the aperture 44 overlies a notch formed in the face-plate 31 which notch is then entered by the spring detent 42 to relcasably latch said camming member in its inoperative position. The spring dotent prevents the stop cam member from being shifted into operative position accidentally or by the vibration which is incident to normal operation of the sewing machine.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

1. In a sewing machine having a hollow sewing head, a face-plate closing said sewing head, and a work presser device mounted in said sewing head, an adjustable embroidering stop-cam shiftably supported on said face-plate and disposed within said hollow sewing head, an abutment member carried by said presser device and disposed for engagement with said stop-cam, an arm constituting a handle extending from said stop-cam, said arm terminating in a'finger grip portion disposed to extend beyond one edge of said face-plate, said edge of the face-plate 4 being formed with a finger grip accommodating indenration.

2. In a sewing machine'having a frame comprising a work-support, a hollow bracket-arm overhanging said work-support, and a faceplate closing said hollow bracket-arm, a presser device including a resser-bar journaled in said bracket-arm, a presser-foot depending from said resser-bar, spring means biasing said resser-foot into an extreme lowered position against said worksupport and means carried by said bracket-arm for lifting said resser-foot to an extreme raised position, the improvement which comprises an abutment member secured to said Presser-bar, a stop-cam pivotally secured adjacent one side of the face plate closing said hollow bracketarm, said stop-cam including an arm constituting a handle extending beyond said face plate, and said stop-cam having an inoperative position out of the range of movement of said abutment member and an operative position'extending intermediate the extreme raised and lowered positions of said abutment member.

3. In a sewing machine having a frame comprising a work-support, a hollow bracket-arm overhanging said work-support, and a face-plate closing said hollow bracket-arm, a presser device including a resser-bar journaled in said bracket-arm, a presser-foot depending from said presser-bar', spring means biasing said resser-foot into an extreme lowered position against said work support and means carried by said bracket-arm for lifting said Presser-foot to an extreme raised position, the improvement which comprises an abutment member secured to said resser-bar, a stop-cam movably carried on the face plate closing said hollow bracket-arm, said step cam having an inoperative position out of the range of movement of said abutment member and an operative position extending intermediate the extreme raised and lowered positions of said abutment member, and a spring detent arranged between said stop-cam and said faceplate, said detent being disposed to latch said stop-cam releasably in inoperative position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 243,945 Mullikin et al. July 5, 188i 1,279,088 De Voe Sept. 17, 1918 2,392,730 Enos Jan. 8, 1946 

